


in the aftermath

by forgottenwords



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Apologies, Bonding, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Fix-It, Fix-it fic, Friendship, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post S6, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Season/Series 06, Revelations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-23 18:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14939750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgottenwords/pseuds/forgottenwords
Summary: They finally have some breathing room after everything that had transpired. Who knew emotional upheaval could be more exhausting than the fight?or:There are still some underlying obstacles that need to be addressed before they can travel home.





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My heart yEETED out of my chest while watching this morning, so have some semi coherent fix it fic y’all. 
> 
> I kinda have a few chapters planned out for various things that I feel needed attention in the show, so I hope I can deliver that quality content™. This chapter may be a bit short though as I figure out how to work things in cohesively.

“So. Are you like, the leader again?”

The tentative drawl had everyone turn their heads towards Lance, his tired eyes echoing the calm ambience that had settled over their ever-growing group. They were still far away from home - Earth - Pidge had calculated that it would take them up to a month to travel back from this far out in the Xenith System, even in their lions. 

Keith let out a breath, his gaze drawn to the prone figure outside of their circle. He flicked his eyes up and took in the questioning stances of his team-mates. A small grin settled on his lips as he spoke, “I mean...if you guys’ll have me that is?”

There was no hesitation in his words, and the smiles that reverberated around the group were a comfort after all the upheaval they had all been through. He felt ready this time, secure in himself and the people around him. 

Pidge let out a little sob and attached herself to his side, knocking the wind out of him with a little ‘oof’. 

“Of course you dummy! It was never the same with you gone, now we can be a true team again.” 

Her tiny hands wrapped around his middle, and Keith couldn’t help but compare at how much he had changed in comparison to the rest of them while being seperated. He was older, sure, but it was still...strange. Spending that time with his mom and Yori while the others had hardly aged at all. 

Keith shook his head, now wasn’t the time to be worrying about himself. The others looked like they needed some serious uplifting. He wasn’t lying when he said he understood why his mom had left, sometimes the team - family - came first above all else. There would be time for him to talk to the rest of the team about it later. 

For now, he smiled and casted a look at the Galran lady beside him. 

“Mom?” 

She firmly planted a hand on his shoulder, eyes shining brightly. 

“I said I was never going to leave you again. Wherever you go Keith, I’ll be right behind you.” 

He nodded, closing his eyes and hugged his friend tighter. 

Maybe they would be alright afterall. 

Although there was still so much for them to accomplish they could do it - together. Though, he could feel a wave of unrest flowing through the group, it had been there when they were in Voltron. 

“Aww man. I didn’t think I had any tears left after Shiro woke up.”

Keith looked up, a fond look on his face. “Am I that much of a sight for sore eyes Hunk?”

Said boy sniffed, “Well duh! Pidge wasn’t wrong, it’s like there was a Keith shaped hole all the time - uh well a smaller Keith shaped hole, but you know what I mean!” 

Lance piped up, “Yeah man! You almost look like you’re taller than me now.”

He heard Pidge snicker beside him, “Looks like someone’s a tad salty.”

The elder glared back, crossing his arms and huffing as a retort. The girl’s teasing was meant to be friendly, but Keith could see an inkling of heat within Lance’s glare mixed with underlying guilt. He forced a frown from arising as Pidge laughed. 

Looks like there were still some issues to work out between them all. 

“Come young and old ones! I think we should get some rest before starting our trek to Earth.” 

Coran had started a small campfire between two of the lions and had brought out some blankets and pillows to settle down on. Allura guided Romelle and Krolia over, as Yori circled the area, sniffing the ground for any foreign scents. Hunk and Lance carefully moved Shiro over to one of the blankets as Pidge scanned the surrounding atmosphere and set up an alert system so they would know if anyone or _thing_ was incoming to the planet. 

Keith let out a sigh, feeling the previous hours start to creep up on his body. He lightly touched his cheek, a sting going up the side of his face. He’d have to ask Coran about some sort of serum to put on it later. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and he couldn’t help but be thankful that he was surrounded by friends and family. 

Smiling, he jogged to catch up to them and tried not to worry about the next step in their mission.


	2. The Thing About Keith & Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane...

When he woke, he was surprised to see that almost everyone had already gotten up except for Hunk.

 

The fire had burned out in the middle of the night and the faint smell of smoke lingered, and faded into the dark sky. Their gear was still sprawled along the ground, pillows crumpled and blankets thrown back. 

 

He got to his feet, groaning from the ache that had settled in from sleeping on the ground and from being tossed around like a ragdoll by his fake brother. Desperately wanting a shower to wash away the sweat and previous days memories. It was time to catch everyone up on what had occurred on the other side of the wormhole. 

 

Nudging Hunk with his foot, Keith spoke.

 

“Hey Big-man, it’s time to rejoin the living.” 

 

“Hngg, five more minutes mum,” was the gruntled response into the pillow. 

 

He only hesitated for a second before answering, “One: I’m not your mom, and Two: no.”

 

“Ugh, fine. Galra Keith was much more lenient than Leader Keith.”

 

“I’m...not going to give that a response. C’mon man, we need to have a meeting.”

 

Hunk groaned again, slowly rising from his makeshift bed. He glared daggers as he passed by with a yawn. 

 

“Fine, Mum.”

 

Keith froze with an open mouth, before letting out a huff and rolling his eyes and motioned to follow the yellow paladin. 

 

He had missed being with them all so much that it was hard to get back into the atmosphere they had once had. It had felt like two years had passed when he and Krolia had been in the abyss, but none of the paladins, Allura or Coran had aged. It left an odd taste in his mouth. Having that time to bond and talk with his mother - he wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it felt like something was off with the rest of his friends. Like there was something off with him maybe? Or he had matured more than he thought? There was no doubt that he had grown to accept the fate that Shiro had wanted for him. To pilot black in his absence, to hone the skills that he had been trying to instill in him for years.   
To not give up on himself, and the people that wanted to support him. 

 

Clenching his teeth, Keith held his head high and ventured over to the rest of their rag-tag group. 

 

… 

 

There was a lighthearted excitement in the air radiating from the other three younger paladins as he walked over after finding something to feed Yori from the non-perishable storage in Black. They were waiting for the others to join them for the pre-plan meeting to decide where they were going to gather extra supplies for the long expedition home. 

 

“I need to call Matt, one sec guys!” The youngest exclaimed with eagerness. 

 

Hunk had finally risen and joined them, “Oh yeah! I guess your brother would want to see mom and dad too huh. Hopefully he’ll be able to leave the rebels for a little bit, I’d love to discuss what modulating methods he prefers…”

 

A loud groan was heard across the space and Hunk laughed as Pidge went to fiddle with her computer. Lance rolled his eyes as his friend zeroed in on his obvious reaction. 

 

“Ooo you just don’t want him wooing Alluraaa.”

 

The blue paladin had his arms crossed, and frowned at his friend. “That’s not funny Hunk, would you two quit it already!” 

 

Keith frowned as well, noticing the same tension from the night before as Lance was teased by his friend. He was slightly surprised at the way Pidge and Hunk were treating their friend. The blue paladin seemed very much not himself, subdued in his excitement of finally being able to see his family. He crossed his arms as well, feeling a tad remorseful for not speaking up yesterday. 

 

Sure, their relationship had always been cultivated on taunts and teasing, but he _did_ know when to pull back and take a deep breath when needed. Plus, they never ridiculed each other about touchy personal subjects, no matter how angry they may have been in the moment. 

 

“He’s right you know.” 

 

The pair froze, one in shock and the other in sheepish shame. It was easy to see that Lance was hurt by the way that both Hunk and Pidge were treating his feelings for Allura. He wondered why it seemed like _he_ was the only one to notice it? 

 

“Uh, Keith?”

 

“What? Have you never had feelings for someone Hunk? I dunno about Pidge, but I know for a fact that _you_ know, what it’s like to admire someone and how it feels when that person may or may not reciprocate those feelings.” 

 

The yellow paladin stammered, “Welll..you got me there. So uh, where is this coming from exactly?” 

 

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking if I ever had a crush?”

 

Hunk scratched the back of his neck, “Maybe?”

 

“Not that it matters, but...yeah. I did have a crush, but he fell for someone else. So yes, I do know exactly how it feels. And I think you guys need to uhh talk. ‘Cause I for one, wouldn’t want to make my friend miserable over a crush.” 

 

He shook his head and walked past the pair, side eyeing Lance on the way by. The blue paladin had been unusually quiet during the exchange, though his wide eyes seemed grateful. 

 

The pair observed in astonishment as Keith spotted his mom and made his way over to her, a smile now replacing the disapproving frown he had harboured at Hunk. 

 

“Is it just me, or has he seriously changed? Like, it’s not just me right?”

 

Lance nodded silently, curious as to where the fierce protectiveness had spawned from in their friend. It was more so curious to see and have it directed towards himself, he knew that they had sort of come to a stalemate in their rivalry with all the action that had been occurring lately and the separation when Keith had left for the Blades. It was flooring and he didn’t know how to react, legs frozen, mind puzzled as to the switch of demeanor in the boy. 

 

Letting out a puff of air, he forced himself to move, mentally storing the ever-growing list of questions to ask their newly appointed leader. 

 

…

 

“Alright paladins, galrans, alteans and uh...strange wolf creatures alike! Given all that has happened the past few quintants, I think it’s time we had a team meeting.”

 

Coran’s voice and quirky personality was soothing to hear again, as they all huddled in a large circle, and Keith saw Yori sniffing Kaltenecker with interest not too far from the Red lion. He was worried only for a moment before she sat down, tail twitching and tongue sticking out in a pant. 

 

“Keith my boy, you said you wanted to start?”

 

The others chatter slowly faded out as he stood taller, arms falling to his sides. He felt nervous, hair sticking to the back of his neck. Maybe due to the fact that he was going to be talking about himself, and...what had come to pass on the other side of the wormhole. 

 

Each flash of memory was a piece of lead in his gut, and he was slightly nauseous now that things had settled down. He’d been trying to come to terms with what he had seen, _done_ and it wasn’t going to be the easiest to speak about. You know, the usual: fighting a clone out of who knows how many in the spitting image of your brother, almost getting killed and _killing_ said brother, finding him months after he had died in a separate plane from reality, then using fucking hyperdrive in a magic metallic lion to aid his friends in sealing away a tyrannical emperor set upon genocide and destruction of his whole race. Not to mention fixing tears in space and time from collapsing the whole universe. There was that too. 

 

What a couple days it had been. But there was still a calm buzz under his fingertips. 

 

“So um, I don’t really know how to start, but I just wanted to explain what happened after I passed through the wormhole.”

 

He rubbed the back of his neck, “As you guys know, Shiro - he was replaced by a clone. And was being controlled by Haggar to get to Lotor through him, which was where we ended up. I’m assuming Lotors generals helped him escape, but Shiro flew away in the opposite direction so I followed in Black.”

 

“He led me to this strange facility where there were….more clones.”

 

Allura piped up in fury, “She created more than one? Oh my hatred for that witch grows by the day…”

 

Coran laid a hand on her shoulder in comfort, a grim countenance to his words. 

 

“I couldn’t even count how many there were before - before he started attacking. I tried to get him to see reason but it didn’t work. Haggar must have had such a powerful control over him, she was able to modify his arm during the fight and in the process of trying to kill me the facility started to fall apart because of the blasts coming from the arm.”

 

Keith took a deep breath and avoided the gazes of his friends. He didn’t want to see the hurt in their eyes. 

 

“Some parts are kind of fuzzy, and all I remember is being so angry when he told me that he - he ‘took care’ of you guys. It was like I couldn’t see straight….and then I was able to overpower him and cut the arm off. 

 

“Since the facility was collapsing, I tried to keep us both on it but we started falling towards the surface of the planet when my knife slipped out of the part we were clinging to. I woke up in black, and then in this weird mystical realm where the _real_ Shiro had been since he vanished.”

 

“So that’s how he was able to contact me when we were in the weird mindspace thing inside Voltron…” 

 

Lance’s defeated voice cut through the mournful atmosphere, his eyes closed and eyebrows drawn together.

 

Keith swallowed thickly before continuing. 

 

"Shiro...he - he died. Back when he was fighting Zarkon. But he was still with us, all this time.”

 

There was silence. Not a sound echoed except his voice. 

 

“And...Lance.”

 

The red paladin took a deep breath, eyes burning as he stared straight at the boy. Lance opened his eyes, and Keith wanted to make sure he was listening when he spoke next. 

 

“Please don’t blame yourself, none of this was your fault.”

 

Said boy stepped forward, a counter on his lips, “But - 

 

“No! No. This wasn’t your fault, you couldn’t have known what was wrong, even if Shiro did try to warn you. He was being controlled by something stronger than we could have imagined. Just, don’t blame yourself, he wouldn’t want that. And if there is any blame to place than you can blame _me_. I had been piloting Black long after he had truly died and I didn’t _feel_ anything. I didn’t even know he was there. Lance, if there was anyone who should have known something was wrong it would have been me, but I wasn’t _there_ ….

 

He couldn’t stop himself from rambling, “You. Are. Not. To. Blame.” Another silence rang out across the space, and Keith clenched his fists, nails digging holes into his palms. There was an edge to his voice, and the others viewed him with a slight recoil, eyes wide in shock. A warm sensation similar to when he was fighting the clone arose, and he wanted to ask why they all looked so stunned. However, a rough voice broke the lull in conversation. 

 

“And neither are you Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keith defending lance is my jam, also i hope you guys enjoy the next part! i broke my toe so i'll have plenty of time to continue writing lol

**Author's Note:**

> come cry with me on twitter: @SarahSerenaRose


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